Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS)

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a very brief five-item self-assessment questionnaire designed to measure global life satisfaction, which is understood as a cognitive component of subjective well-being. The respondent expresses the degree of agreement with five short statements about his own life.

Length of filling

Filling out the entire questionnaire takes about 1 minute.

Individualized feedback for the respondent

The subject will receive information about the level of his overall life satisfaction.

Keywords

Satisfaction With Life Scale, SWLS, life satisfaction, subjective well-being, global satisfaction

Scoring and interpretation

The total score is obtained by adding the points of the individual items. It ranges from 5-35 and a higher score means a higher level of overall life satisfaction.

Response scale

Subjects answer on a seven-point Likert-type scale from “Strongly disagree” (1) to “Strongly agree” (7).

References

Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction With Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13

Hanzlová, R. (2022). An Item Response Theory Analysis and Psychometric Properties of the Czech Version of the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Survey Research Methods, 16(3), 371–385. https://doi.org/10.18148/srm/2022.v16i3.7940

Lewis, C. A., Shevlin, M. E., Smékal, V., & Dorahy, M. J. (1999). Factor structure and reliability of a Czech translation of the Satisfaction With Life Scale among Czech university students. Studia Psychologica, 41(3), 239–244. dostupné zde

Navrátil, M., & Lewis, C. A. (2006). Temporal Stability of the Czech Translation of the Satisfaction with Life Scale: Test-Retest Data over One Week. Psychological Reports, 98(3), 918–920. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.98.3.918-920

Pavot, W. G., Diener, E., Colvin, C. R., & Sandvik, E. (1991). Further validation of the Satisfaction With Life Scale: Evidence for the cross-method convergence of well-being measures. Journal of Personality Assessment, 57(1), 149–161. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa5701_17

Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993). Review of the Satisfaction With Life Scale. Psychological Assessment, 5(2), 164–172. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.5.2.164